Morgan Spurlock And His Warrior Poets Banner Strike Development Deal With The Associated Press

EXCLUSIVE: Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Spurlock has struck a landmark development deal with The Associated Press, which will grant the Super Size Me documentarian and his NY-based Warrior Poets production banner unlimited access to adapt the AP’s library of broadcast, digital, and mobile content. The deal makes AP’s extensive archive of global news and media available for development into scripted and unscripted multiplatform projects – a huge wealth of potential source material spanning the global news network’s content from coverage in 110 countries worldwide. Spurlock and Co. are already scouring AP’s library for their first projects, most likely starting with content aimed at U.S. audience before adding potential international partners on stories of local interest. “The goal at the end of the day is to move forward with projects for TV, film, digital, and theatrical,” said Spurlock. “The scope of what we have access to is unheralded.”

For now it’ll be Spurlock, producing partner Jeremy Chilnick, and head of development Ethan Goldman sifting through potential source material, but at the busy shingle “everyone who’s in here, from the head of production to people on other shows, brings ideas they like into the fold,” Spurlock says. Earlier this month The Weinstein Co. made a similar first-look programming deal with Gannett but the vast AP archives give Warrior Poets a much larger bank of content to draw from. Deal came together from a meeting between AP’s global director of entertainment products, Michael Dutton, and Spurlock and Co. “Warrior Poets recognizes the value of AP’s accurate, independent and global text, photo and video news reports. We are pleased that their experienced and creative team will be developing original digital and broadcast programming around AP’s editorial content,” said Dutton.

“As filmmakers and TV producers, the opportunity to gain access to AP’s impressive portfolio of material is an unbelievable resource. This agreement will allow us to cultivate a multitude of exciting new projects based on AP’s countless fascinating news stories,” said Spurlock. Last month Showtime picked up Spurlock’s new docuseries Seven Deadly Sins, which will premiere June 19.